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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24011944">facepalm</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokeshipping_Flash/pseuds/Pokeshipping_Flash'>Pokeshipping_Flash</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Denial of Feelings, F/M, First Crush, Flash Fic, Gen, Late Night Narrative, One Shot, Setting is early OS</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:22:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,573</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24011944</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokeshipping_Flash/pseuds/Pokeshipping_Flash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Misty can't possibly sleep until she works through some things. Hints of Pokeshipping.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kasumi | Misty/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>facepalm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As a reminder, fic requests are always accepted but only through the Tumblr blog, which can be linked to from this account's profile. Please take a look at the blog's FAQ regarding requests and feel free to go through the master fic list too.</p><p>Comments are appreciated. Feel free to ask questions about this account (that aren't provided on the Ao3 profile already).</p><p>[fic request: One word prompt: facepalm]</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If there’s one thing you’ve learned over the past eight or so months of traveling with him, it’s that Ash Ketchum is quite the embarrassment.</p><p>You’re halfway to sleeping when the initial thought crosses your mind but it sprints around in ascending circles inside your head before you think to stop it in its tracks.</p><p>Whether he’s running off to do something bullheaded or eating himself into a coma while spectators take bets or his pants are falling down in the middle of the street (who cares that it only happened that one time Sabrina’s dad used his psychic power; the point is that it <em>mortified </em>you to witness such a thing), Ash Ketchum is an embarrassment to have around <strike>sometimes</strike>.</p><p>The whole thing stresses you out beyond belief. It’s even led to you eyeballing him out of the corner of your eye nearly <em>constantly </em>just so you can be mentally prepared to handle his next stunt. Sometimes your instincts kick in and you grab a hold of him to try and tell him off, dragging him in the opposite direction. Sometimes you need to scarf down a parfait in the closest cafe you can find in the city your group’s currently traveling through just to relieve the pressure of being in Ash Ketchum’s company. Oh, and <em>sometimes </em>you end up wrapped up and pulled into one of his stupid scenarios too, which is far too exhausting to consider the reasons for!</p><p>But now, for the first time since tagging along on that dumb kid’s dumb Pokemon journey, you’re eroded with a random wave of insomnia while sharing a room at the local PokeCenter and all you can do is lay back and think about what a gawd-awful embarrassment that Ash Ketchum is.</p><p>All of the above commentary is not to say that he has a tendency to keep you up at night (though the current situation may seem evidentiary to the contrary). And, while a partial statement lifted from your aforementioned thought process could be construed as something akin to <em>caring about him</em>, you’re setting the record straight and clearing that air asap! You don’t care about Ash Ketchum, not really. Sure, you’re civil most of the time, you’ve even felt concerned enough once or twice to personally check in and make sure he’s still alive but… but any decent human being would do the same thing so that shouldn’t count!</p><p>No, the truth is you can barely stomach him more than you can stand the presence of bug-type Pokemon. That’s what Ash is to you. A bug. An annoyance.</p><p>Though, and your brows furrow together, forehead creasing down and nose scrunching up, it’s not… quite the same. Bug Pokemon are creepy, they even kinda… if you’re gonna go so far as to admit it… <em>scare </em>you. Ash, by comparison, makes you feel neither creeped out nor afraid.</p><p>In fact, haven’t there been a couple of times when you’ve… depended on him? Even when it concerned bugs?</p><p>You groan aloud to yourself, going immediately stiff in the dark when you hear one of your companions shuffle as they roll over on one of the other beds in the room. You squint in the direction of the silhouette as it shifts and eventually stills, concerned someone would wake and ask questions about what’s preventing your sleep. And there’s no way you’re going to let anyone lord over you the fact that Ash Ketchum is keeping you up at night.</p><p>Because he’s not. Because that’s absolutely ridiculous.</p><p>… Though, even if someone asks, it wouldn’t be frowned upon to admit that the densest, most frustrating Pokemon trainer in the world is <em>haunting </em>you.</p><p>No! You snap onto your side, wrenching the pillow halfway from under your head and covering the ear that is on the other side as if this tactic will somehow drown out your thoughts. No, no! If there’s one way to prevent such a thing from even cropping up in conversation, it’s to change your entire thought process right now before it spirals any further!</p><p>If Ash Ketchum makes you think of <strike>other</strike> things you don’t like then the best way to combat that until you finally get called to dreamland is to think of things you <em>do </em>like, right? Hah! Flawless plan!</p><p>So you think about the water, and swimming, and swimming with water-type Pokemon, which are your favorite… That’s nice…  But really, Pokemon in general can be quite nice… and so, quite definitely, are the people who treat Pokemon well…</p><p>… People like Ash Ketchum?</p><p>
  <em>
    <strike>I’ve never met anyone like him before…</strike>
  </em>
</p><p>Your eyes shoot open as the direct quote of your past self flutters through your mind. Some part of you, the part that really <em>had </em>begun to doze off again, can still feel your fingers lace together behind your back, can remember the fullness bursting in your heart as you admire him from afar. But that tender scene took place months ago now.</p><p>This isn’t working, you think, rubbing both of your palms against your strained and burning eyelids, falling once more onto your back. What’s the saying? You’re doomed if you do, doomed if you don’t?</p><p>What can you do when a particular someone else is invading your consciousness and keeping you from the rest you need? Your ire burns in first, screeching that you should obviously cause that person the same disturbance they’re causing you. It’s what they deserve for insighting such distress!</p><p>And yet… and yet there’s another piece of you, logical, more mature, that chimes in next, stating that… perhaps there’s something to be worked out here in the middle of the night involving this other person if they’re capable of keeping you up.</p><p>Ash Ketchum is an embarrassment. That’s the root thought that started everything. But Ash Ketchum is admittedly… quite a lot of things. He’s a… decent trainer, you suppose, though he’ll never compare to you. He treats Pokemon like equals, like friends, and it warms your heart to know that people like him indeed exist. You always felt out of place for thinking similarly in Cerulean City. It’s not that people back home were cruel to Pokemon but… was it the same as the level of personal sacrifice Ash tended to lay on the line?</p><p>There’s a snort from one of your roommates, presumably the same boy that’s consuming your consciousness, though it irks you some to think a split second later that you know him well enough to recognize the odd sounds he makes while asleep… Where has the time even gone these past eight months?</p><p>Ash is - well, he rarely ever allows you the gracious firsthand experience but he’s - a decent person to have around at all. Sure, there are times when he’s annoying, when he’s dumb, dense, stubborn, reckless, immature - oh, wait, you’re working yourself up again… Let’s give it another go…</p><p>The point is, despite all of these traits you <em>have </em>bared the brunt of, there are other times when… when he’s <em>more </em>than decent. The times when he stands up against Team Rocket, for instance! Sure, they’re not much of a threat but it’s not like Ash is obligated to fight them… and yet he does almost daily! And there are the people he helps on a regular basis too.</p><p>And… well, beyond interpersonal exchanges, Ash is… he reminds you of yourself… which is kinda weird to consider now but once the thought is in your head it refuses to dissipate. He’s young yet passionate enough about training Pokemon that he wants to run headfirst at any challenge coming his way. He cares about nothing but his Pokemon and being the best, his spirit occasionally overwhelming bystanders, including yourself. It’s nice to see that same fire in someone else on a daily basis. It reminds you of how much dedication and work you have to do as well in order to make it to the top.</p><p>Was there… a reason for these thoughts circling your mind?</p><p>You can’t quite remember, but they put you at ease, comfort you as you lull into a snooze.</p><p>The lightning strike of emotional turmoil stamps you from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, both your hands immediately, instinctively clamping over the front of your face as you straighten up against the mattress. You can feel your eyelashes flutter against your finger tips, your hot breath puffing against your palms as you moan quietly to yourself in the dead dark and quiet.</p><p>You’d thought that Ash, in all his frustrating egoism and with all his childish quirks, was the embarrassing one… But here you’ve been using him as a coping mechanism to help you fall asleep, internally listing reasons for admiration and likeness and telling yourself it’s a <em>must </em>in order to find any peace tonight…</p><p>And honestly, is there <em>anything at all </em>more embarrassing than <em>that</em>?</p><p>You spend the next few minutes rolling around, mourning your less emotionally aware state of mind, gone now after half the night’s been spent on dissecting your relationship with this dumb boy…</p><p>But after that, you spend the following five or so hours sleeping soundly among your companions without any disruption until it’s time to get the next part of your journey together started.</p><p>And you’re remiss to confess even to yourself that thinking good thoughts about Ash Ketchum effectively did its job.</p><p>Thus your next round of denial begins.</p>
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